[ration1802]

It's been a night of it tonight;

LouLou

I've just had her out for her play time, she was running around happily (albiet a little sneezy - I was planning on starting her on Baytril tonight) and eating this treat food that my mum bought the rats for chrismtas - I just put a bowl of it in the bathroom while they are running around for them to try. Suddenly she went really lethargic, frothy around the mouth and looked as if she was trying to hack something up.

Now I'm assuming that she's got something stuck in her throat perhaps - but she seems to have stopped the hacking but is now still incredibly lethargic (she's just laying in Daphne's sick cage, not moving) and 'floppy' - does that make sense? She seems a little restless at the same time - when she's laying she's just slack and not moving, but she is getting up every 5 minutes or so, moving a few steps then laying down again. This is SO not Lou. Is this normal behaviour post-choking? It has come on VERY suddenly. (Her breathing is normal btw)

Someone, anyone????

Ritchie

Second, last Wednesday Ritchie got his back ripped open in a fight with Ray (bad intro!) and got glued up last Thursday. (It was a shallow hole, so the vet glued it together. I cleaned it straight away after the accident, and the morning after - the vet didn't clean it before she glued!) He's now developed an abscess, you can see it bulging on his back underneath the 'scab' (it's quite a large scab as it was hard to glue). Now, I think the glue has caused a stopper on the pus, but I have given it a gentle squeeze and can see a little gunk ooze out. What is the treatment from now? He has seen the vet about this Tuesday, before it got so bad, and she said it seemed fine . Obviously, I need to start treating this, but how? I've read the abscess sicky tons of time - but unfortunately this isn't 'drawing it out' as much as needing to soften that **** gluey scab to allow it to release.

I've applied Neosporin tonight (luckily it's a spot on his back he can't clean easily) and may soak it tomorrow - but is that safe to do with the glue?

Any help would be great =/

 

[lilspaz68]

Re: Two minor emergencies - questions?

first one is a quiet choke. I would imagine she has a gooey chin. Lucine just did this the other day...lie down for a bit, then up walk a few steps and lie down. check for the saliva on her chin.

abscess under a glued scab....sigh, thats a toughy. Next time telll your vet no glue for wounds just in case

see if you can squeeze out the pus from the side and possibly lift the scab to flush it out?

Put him on baytril and no polysporin..it won't soften the glue and will encourage the Bad Healing

You'd be surprised at how well gashes and wounds heal with little to no interference from us.

 

[Turfle]

Re: Two minor emergencies - questions?

Well, i was a vet tech for 15 years before I became a mom and a paramedic, I am not too sure about if rats exhibit the same signs, but, if she is lathargic you may want to look at her when she gets up and walks. If she is weaker on one side or the other, she may have had a stroke. Also, she may have had a small seizure and is post icthal. (recovering from the seizure). I would go to the vet immediately for care. REMEMBER I am not a vet nor really knowlegable on rat problems. This sounds really bad.

As for your other beasty, your best bet would probably be to soak it with very warm water and keep trying to "milk" it out as best you can. If the gue was purple, it wont let go at all easily, one of the reasons to use it. I have not heard if polysporin is bad for rats, but if it isn't keep using it around the outside as you do not want it to heal from the outside in....this will give the wound time to heal and hopefully you can keep the infection at bay. AGAIN...I am NOT a vet nor expert at rat care. But I hope this helps a bit.

 

[ration1802]

Re: Two minor emergencies - questions?

first one is a quiet choke. I would imagine she has a gooey chin. Lucine just did this the other day...lie down for a bit, then up walk a few steps and lie down. check for the saliva on her chin.

She's definately got a gooey chin - it smells a bit vomity (she definately regurgitated some food when I first picked her up) but I can imagine having something stuck in your thoat could cause that. =/ don't know.

She's VERY quiet - I've put her with Daphne as Max seemed to be going a little manic with her and pulling her around trying to clean her up - but Daphne keeps checking on her.

She's still hacking every now and again, but it's only been an hour since it started - I'm hoping it will dislodge soon.

Poor Lou...

Turfle - I'm not sure it is a stroke, although I can definately see where you're coming from. I think as she was eating only moments before these symptoms started it's likely that she was being too much of a piggy. I'll definately keep it in mind though, when/if she's looking a little stronger I'll check her walking

abscess under a glued scab....sigh. Next time no glue for wounds just in case

see if you can squeeze out the pus from the side and possibly lift the scab to flush it out?

Put him on baytril and no polysporin..it won't soften the glue and will encourage the Bad Healing

You'd be surprised at how well gashes and wounds heal with little to no interference from us.

I didn't want to get it glued - just checked out. It was very shallow, but quite wide. The vets reasoning was "there's only a thin layer of fat between this and the spine - to stop infection it's best to close it". It didn't close fully - but was bunged with glue. I thought it would scab and heal slowly without glue - and I could keep it clean by flushing with saline a few times a day. But no..she had other ideas.

Turfle, it was a clear glue - I've had the blue glue before, but this time it was clear.

So I shouldn't use the Neosporin? I'm tempted to soak it tomorrow (I've pulled him around enough for today, he's getting testy) using warm saline and see if I can get something out of it.

He's already been on Baytril for 2 weeks already (URI), so I'll be continuing that until it's healed. Poor little guy is being ransacked by his mites though - and I cant treat them with this sore! I feel so sorry for him - he looks so sorry for himself!

 

[Turfle]

Re: Two minor emergencies - questions?

well, like I said, I'm new at rat care so I can only go with the symptoms. I would keep the would as clean and that bit of an opening open if you can. Sorry if I freaked you out any.

 

[ration1802]

Re: Two minor emergencies - questions?

No freaking out - I'm teaching myself control in the face of emergencies. lol

Thank you for your input. I've never experienced strokes with El Rattos before, (hopefully I won't have to). I didn't know if they would come on so suddenly - it'll be something for me to research just incase.

She sems better -she had a couple of nibbles of food and paid interest in Daphne's hammock. Still quiet - but looking a bit better. *Cross fingers*

 

[ration1802]

So, I put Lou with Daph over night in the 'sick cage' as it's easier to check on them..

I woke up this morning and Daphn was doing exactly the same thing! Not much lethargy but she's drooling like CRAZY and when I had her sitting on my lap, she was trying to hack something up and bringing stuff up - like Lou.

Is this coincidence? They both had the same 'treat food' last night - in fact all 8 of my girls did and the rest seem fine (for now! O.O)

And Lou - well I picked her up to check on her this morning and found this on her;

It was definately not there last night, and it's not just discolouration on the skin as there appears to be some 'substance' behind it.

WHAT is going on?! ANYONE?!

 

[lilspaz68]

Ummm...toss the treat thing in the garbage. Some things can just cause choke. Lucine I am sure choked on lab blocks :roll: Greedy piggy.

As long as they are breathing they'll be okay. Not sure about that "wound". It almost looks like a section where the hair was pulled out. THAT you can put neosporin on and keep an eye on.

 

[Emster]

It could be an allergy of some sort...?

 

[ration1802]

It could be an allergy of some sort...?

I was thinking it could be the dried shrimp in the treat mix - BUT they have all had prawns before without problem - and I noticed that they paid no attention to the shrimp at all anyway